The Airbus A350 and Bombardier CSeries are unlikely to make an appearance at the Paris air show in June, while the Boeing 787 could make an appearance if the type is cleared to fly to the show by the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).
Gilles Fournier, the managing director of the air show, says the A350 and CSeries "could not be ready" for Paris. "They will probably go to Farnborough [in 2014] or Berlin," he tells Flightglobal today at the sidelines of a press briefing on the Paris air show.
The A350 is due to make its maiden flight this summer, while the CSeries flight test vehicle (FTV-1) is scheduled for first flight by late June. The Paris air show will be held from 17 to 21 June.
Two 787s are planned to be featured in the show's static display - an aircraft from Boeing and Qatar Airways' 787, which also flew at the Farnborough air show in 2012.
Fournier says, however, that the 787's presence at the show is contingent on whether FAA regulators clear the aircraft to fly to Paris. "If it's ready, it will fly," he adds.
The global 787 fleet has been grounded since 16 January, prompted by a directive from the FAA following two battery incidents on two different 787s.
Boeing has proposed changes to the battery design and is now conducting flight tests with the improved design in a bid for the 787 to be re-certificated by the FAA.
Paris air show organisers say today that they expect a Russian fighter jet to fly at the show, but decline to provide more details, saying that an announcement will be made in Moscow in the following weeks,
Source: Air Transport Intelligence news
